Thursday 26 June 2014

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #229 Recycle Aluminium Cans

1000 Flowers for the Planet - #229 Recycle Aluminium Cans


I've been on annual leave so the daily flower post has has a little hiatus, but let's get going again ...
 
Recycling just one aluminium can saves enough electricity to power a TV for 3 hours! Wow. Furthermore, making cans from recycled aluminium uses 95% less energy than making them from scratch. [source: http://cans.planetark.org/recycling-info/] That’s major stuff! If we recycle all our aluminium cans we will be reducing carbon emissions, reducing landfill, reducing litter and saving so much energy. Even better news, 100% of the aluminium can is recyclable. And it all comes in one piece – so long as you don’t pull off the tab. So here’s another idea – don’t pull of the tab. When participating in Clean Up Australia Day I discovered so many ring pulls on the ground. They become a huge litter problem, yet they are completely recyclable. It’s a wasted opportunity to toss them on the ground. Make life simpler by leaving the tab on the can and put the whole can in the recycling bin. If you really can’t manage that, hold onto the ring pull until you’ve finished drinking and put the ring inside the can. Let’s keep aluminium going round and round – recycle it.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Margaret, here in South Australia we have "returnable" bottles, cans, flavoured milk cartons etc. (have a look on the side of your coke can or iced coffee bottle). Each one is worth 10cents when taken to the recycle depot, and believe me, it soon adds up! Apparently it was introduced here about 30-40 years ago (I must do the research!) as a "test case", and has continued all these years. What astounds me is that it's obviously so successful here, but no other states have picked it up too. I believe (but could be wrong) that SA has the highest percentage of recycling in Aust. Many people I know use it as a "pocketmoney opportunity" for their kids or grandkids. Personally, my recycled cans, bottles etc have paid for the petrol in my car more than once! MSW xx